


Butterfly effect

by Vault_Emblem



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Consequences, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 19:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16939578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vault_Emblem/pseuds/Vault_Emblem
Summary: Caleb turns back time.





	Butterfly effect

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I’ll just say it now so it doesn’t come up in the comments.  
> Yes, I use hyphens for dialogues and quotation marks for thoughts. Why? Because this is how we do in Italy, the country I’m from (actually there’s more freedom in Italy and more than one method to use this kind of punctuation but whatever).  
> This is the method I’ve learned and the one I’m used to, and I don’t think I’ll even change it.  
> Please, I beg you, stop pointing it out, it’s starting to get really annoying, especially when that’s the only thing people comment about.

Caleb doesn’t realise he’s holding his breath until he feels the urgent need to breathe.

The enchantment is almost complete and he can’t hold his trepidation.

He’s so close… so close…

 

He hears his name whispered in a pained noise and he turns around to see Fjord standing behind him, clutching his wound on the side with one hand and the falchion with the other.

Ah, so he didn’t manage to knock him unconscious long enough to finish this; he should’ve expected it.

He doesn’t want to hurt him, not more than he already did, but if he has intention to stand in his way, he’ll have to.

 

\- … Why, Caleb? -.

 

Caleb can’t help but to be disappointed at that question. He thought he and Fjord understood each other better than that.

\- I’ll make it all better -, he says, his voice low, his lips moving slowly, articulating every word with great care.

 

In his head, it’s all different: hundreds of thoughts are running with such a speed that not even Caleb can keep track of everything.

His parents will be alive and Trent will pay. This is what he intends to do. He will manipulate time so that he can make things better for everyone.

 

Fjord staggers towards him but he falls, knees on the ground. He doesn’t have enough strength to move.

Caleb wants to help him up but he can’t. He’s so close and he can’t hesitate now.

It’s for their own good too.

 

Fjord tries to get up, but Caleb knows what to say to make him stop:

\- You promised me. You promised me that, when the time would come, you would’ve helped me. You owe me this, Fjord -.

As predicted the other stops, looking at Caleb with incredulous eyes, as if he can’t believe that he’s asking him that. He makes no motions towards him, however, and Caleb’s grateful for it.

 

He feels the air tremble as white energy starts to come out of his hands. Everything is shaking.

Caleb looks at Fjord, at his scared eyes, but he won’t be like this for too long.

\- I’ll find you. I’ll find all of you -, he manages to promise before the sound of a thunder breaks through, because with time he’s come to love all of them, because with time they’ve become his family too and he doesn’t want to lose them.

The earth quakes, so much that for a moment Caleb’s afraid that it’s going to break. He feels his insides burn like they never did; it’s painful and yet… painless.

Then everything is white.

 

 

Caleb wakes up with a groan and, when he opens his eyes, he chokes up a sob. In front of him there are his parents, alive and well, if only slightly concerned for their son who looked like he was just a having a stroke a few moments ago.

He hugs them tightly as tears stream down his cheeks. He missed them so much, so so so much.

This means that the enchantment worked and Caleb is so glad that it did. He’s managed to do something good and his parents are now safe. He won’t let anything bad happen to them ever again.

He lets them go and there’s an actual smile on his face; it’s been so long since he smiled but everything is good now and he couldn’t be happier.

Now, however, it’s time for some revenge…

 

The sight of that bastard Trent burning alive is the most beautiful Caleb has ever seen, his pained screams for help and mercy music to his ears. This is what he deserves.

With the knowledge that came from before – oh well, technically after – it’s easy for him to pin this on some sort of conspiracy from Xhorhas. The war will happen anyways, and already now there are a lot of tensions between the two Empires, so it wouldn’t be completely implausible.

 

Once he gets that out of the way too – as methodical as ever – he knows what else he needs to do: he needs to find his friends, his family.

Knowing them he knows that for some will be hard to believe him, but he’s sure he can convince them to follow him.

There are so many things they can do, so many places they can explore, and this time – knowing that he saved his parents – he’ll give his one hundred percent. Everything, for them.

 

It won’t take long for him to learn some things that happened while he travels around to find them…

 

 

Nott died in prison, executed by guards.

She tried to escape but, without a partner, she got caught, and the guards didn’t waste any time killing her. She was just a goblin, why should they have wasted their resources to keep her in prison when she was trying so hard to escape?

There was an explosion at sea; its cause is unknown. The Pink Giver sunk and its remains can still be found under the sea where the disgrace happened.

Many bodies are retrieved, and between these there’s one who belonged to a half-orc who, for some reasons, doesn’t have tusks.

This time Uk’otoa didn’t save him.

 

Nicodranas isn’t as it once was now that the Ruby of the Sea has stopped performing; it’s much less lively.

There are many rumors circulating regarding the reason of such a sudden decision, but not even one has been confirmed.

The most popular theory is that she had a child with one of the clients and that the kid was assassinated, maybe as a way to get back to the Ruby herself.

 

The Cobalt Soul has often being criticized for its training regimen. Some say it’s too hard on the young recruits, but how can someone improve if their limits are never tested?

Not even losing Beauregard has made them change their mind.

 

The cult of the Tomb Takers was joyous when they found not-Lucien hiding in a carnival and they took him to Rexxentrum where their base of operation is.

That joy soon turned into sadness and disappointed when they realised that not-Lucien wasn’t, indeed, Lucien; the ritual didn’t succeed, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t try again, despite not-Lucien’s resistance. It was what Lucien would’ve wanted, after all, and this time they’re keeping the place he’s been buried in heavily guarded.

To this day they’re still waiting for him to come back.

 

Caduceus’ house feels even emptier than when Caleb first arrived there – or maybe that’s because he wasn’t alone that time. There’s nobody inside, but looking around it’s easy to notice that the giant pile of moss, fungi and dead branches and leaves weirdly growing on a chair and onto the table isn’t just a giant mass, but it’s what once was Caduceus Clay. If he squints hard enough, Caleb can see a cup of tea being held between what once were his hands.

Whatever he and his family were trying to fight must’ve taken over, and now nothing remains.

 

There are no traces of Yasha, and in the meantime the war against Xhorhas is won. On the day of the final battle, songs are already being written about the fallen enemy.

That day, there’s a thunderstorm; it must be the biggest one ever recorded in history. It’s almost enough to destroy the Empire’s victorious army but they manage to find some repair from the fury of the sky.

Caleb suspects to know the reason of this event.

 

 

… What has his life come to?

He believed that he could’ve saved everybody, and instead he only brought misfortune to them. In his selfishness, he killed them all.

His parents are alive, but at what cost?

The people he came to like and love are lost, and he’s the only one still standing. He doesn’t deserve any of this.

He wanted it all, but this isn’t how life works.

 

He hoped that this could be his chance to be a better person, to show the world that he can be a better person, but this kind of things can’t change, and all he’s left with is a warm home and a cold heart.

 

… He hopes death will find him soon but even then, does he really deserve that kind of relief?


End file.
